Hans Gruber
Hans Gruber was an internationally feared German terrorist who was the younger brother of Simon Gruber and the main antagonist of Die Hard. He was the mastermind behind the Nakatomi Plaza heist, where he used a gang of heavily armed terrorists to take over the company Christmas Party and attempt to steal $640 million in negotiable bearer bank bonds inside the building's vault. Hans disguised this as a terrorist incident to distract the police from their robbery. Hans met his end after underestimating the courage of one John McClane, who, despite being outmanned 13 to 1, managed to save the hostages of Nakatomi. Hans was also the brother of Simon Gruber and was likely disliked by him, as Hans worked with the West German Volksfrei movement, while Simon was an "obscure colonel from the East German army". It is implied that Hans is far more dangerous than more people let on. He was most likely expelled from the Volksfrei movement for being too extremist and although he always maintained his calm persona, had absolutely no problem with killing innocent people and would do so if necessary. Hans, although not sadistic, had a previous history of terrorism affiliations, and although he didn't appear to be a killer upon his first glance, he is extremely rude, cold and unpredictable; far more so than any of the other terrorists in the film series, possibly with the exception of Colonel Stuart. Before Nakatomi Not much is known about Hans's early life except that he enjoyed making models in his youth and in later life was a member of the radical West German Volksfrei movement. However, Gruber was later expelled from the movement, presumably for being too violent and extreme with his terrorism methods. Gruber later used his past affiliation with the movement as a means to further fuel his ruse of a terrorist takeover. He presumably still maintains these cold war era extremist viewpoints but abandoned them in favor of capitalist spoils. Die Hard Arrival at Nakatomi Plaza As mentioned before, Gruber was originally a member of the German terrorist organization the Volksfrei movement, until he was expelled. Now only concerned with personal gain, he concocted an elaborate robbery scheme using a terrorist pretense as a cover to manipulate the authorities in his plan. He led his gang of 12 thieves to Los Angeles on Christmas Eve where a party of employees was being held to take control of the Nakatomi Tower and steal the $640 million in negotiable bearer bonds that was being held in a high-security vault, protected by various codes in addition to one last code which was electromagnetically sealed. The gang arrived in a Pacific Courier truck, while Karl and Theo, two of his gang, took out the Guards manning the desk. Theo then locked out all elevator motion from the 29th floor downwards using the computers. Hans then locked the front entrance. The gang cut off all phone lines and arrived at the party, making their presence known by firing their guns. Hans then furthered his act as a freedom-fighter by making a short speech about the Nakatomi corporation's legacy of greed around the globe. He then flaunted his knowledge of the president of Nakatomi trading, Joseph Takagi, in order to draw Takagi out. Once he had Takagi, he led the business man to a board room where he then made his true intentions known. The Vault Still believing him to be a terrorist, Takagi continued to make assumptions about the purpose of the takeover to which Gruber impatiently told him to sit down. He then continued to question Takagi over the code. After repeatedly denying that he knew the code, Takagi bravely asserted that they were just going to have to kill him. Unfortunately, Hans agreed, and killed Takagi by a single shot to the head from his weapon of choice, a Heckler & Koch P7M13 semi-automatic pistol. Gruber ordered Theo, his technical expert, to break through the locks on the vault. Theo reminded Hans that the final lock is powered by circuits that cannot be cut locally. Gruber promised to handle the last lock. Hans was unaware, however, that observing them through the glass door from the outside was John McClane, who had slipped through the hands of the terrorists. McClane had stopped over at the tower to pick up his wife, Holly. After killing Karl's brother, Tony, McClane used Tony's walkie-talkie to radio for help. This resulted in a cop car being sent over. The officer, Al Powell, did a quick check over, and left. McClane saw this and after having dispatched two more of the terrorists threw the body onto Powell's car. These were the first omens of the trouble to come. Master Plan While acquiring a two-way radio, C4 explosives, and detonators from the body of one terrorist, McClane explained the situation via the two-way radio as the police, led by Deputy Police Chief Dwayne T. Robinson, arrived. The police sent in a SWAT team and an armored vehicle. McClane and Powell aware unable to prevent the SWAT team from being ambushed, but McClane managed to kill the terrorists attacking the SWAT team. One of Holly's coworkers, Harry Ellis, tried to negotiate with Hans and McClane for the return of the detonators. McClane helplessly tells Ellis that Hans would kill him to which Gruber proves when Ellis fails. The FBI arrived, and took control from the police. They ordered the power to the building shut down, which deactivates the vault's final lock as Gruber had intended. Theo ransacks the now-open vault, loading the bearer bonds into an ambulance to be used as their getaway vehicle. McClane continued to sneak through the building to kill the terrorists. When he found Gruber working at the explosives planted on the roof, Gruber passed himself off as an escaped hostage. McClane appeared to let down his guard, and gave Gruber a gun; when Gruber attempted to fire the weapon, however, it is discovered that there were no bullets in the gun. As this happened, Gruber's men appeared from an elevator and fired at McClane, who was forced to flee, leaving behind the detonators. The roof was rigged to explode with the detonators, and Gruber lured the FBI into the trap by asking for helicopter transport for him and his men to Los Angeles International Airport in exchange for the hostages; Gruber planned to use the roof explosion to make the authorities believe him to be dead and allow him to escape with the bonds. As the helicopters travelled to the scene, Gruber observed a television news story from investigative reporter Richard Thornburg that Lucy mentions that Holly Gennero is McClane's wife. With the helicopter nearing with Special Agent Johnson and Agent Johnson on board, Gruber ordered the hostages to the roof, taking personal control over Holly. Death McClane arrived at the roof, dealt with the terrorists escorting the hostages, and used his Heckler and Koch MP5 to scare the hostages back downstairs before Hans detonated the C4 and the roof exploded saving McClane from Special Agent Johnson who mistaken him as one of Han's men and about to shoot him, which unfortunately engulfed the FBI helicopters killing Agent Johnson and everyone on the helicopter. Hans's plan continued to fall apart when Argyle stopped Theo from escaping in the getaway ambulance by knocking him unconscious when he rammed the truck with his limousine. After getting back into the skyscraper by shooting through the window, he realized that the remaining two terrorists, Eddie and Hans were holding Holly. He quickly taped his Beretta 92F pistol to his upper back with Christmas gift wrap tape and walked into the vault armed with his empty MP5. Hans put his pistol to Holly's head and told John to surrender his machine gun, having finally gotten the drop on McClane. John did as he was told, and put his hands behind his back, but used the feint to grab his pistol and shoot Eddie in the forehead and Gruber in the shoulder. The bullet shot through a window, cracking it. Still holding Holly, Hans staggers backwards, wounded badly from the gunshot, and crashes through the broken window. Hans grabs onto Holly's watch and drags her to the floor, hanging on desperately to avoid falling off the building. McClane rushes to help Holly, who is inches away from falling to her death, desperately attempting to unclasp the watch while an infuriated Hans slowly levels his P7 at McClane with the intention of ending his life. Luckily, before Hans can shoot John and take Holly with him, John unclasps the butter hook, and a shocked Hans plummets to his death on the pavement of the plaza, 30 stories down. Appearance Hans, on the night of the Nakatomi Christmas party, appeared a very well groomed man. He wore a black suit, a white shirt, and a red tie. Due to his knowledge of Takagi's expensive suit, it is likely his own suit was quite expensive. He had brown, though slightly graying hair that was combed to the right. In the file photo used in the news broadcast, detailing the Nakatomi takeover, Hans did, however, have extremely messy hair and baggy, dirty clothes. Personality Hans preferred to switch between a casual persona and an intimidating one in order to surprise people with his next move, as he had many different tricks up his sleeve. This is the main dilemma of the film, as Hans and John are both trying to stay one step ahead of each other in a battle of wits. Hans had a casual attitude to killing as shown when he murdered Takagi and Ellis and intended to murder the staff of Nakatomi which included a pregnant woman whom he was aware of. As shown when dealing with Holly, he also had a curt attitude to people whom he did not know. This is furthered by his apparent jokey nature with Karl and Theo, two people, he presumably knew well and liked. An intelligent man, Hans liked to flaunt his knowledge and boast of his classical education, as shown during his conversation with Takagi. He also had knowledge in business and financial information, as well as being able to determine the type of a suit just by looking at it. Due to the horrible things he has done, Hans was not well liked by law-abiding characters such as John or Holly. Even in the third film, Simon Gruber agrees with McClane that his brother was an 'asshole'. Impact Due in no small part to Rickman's performance, the character has had enduring popularity and is constantly voted one of the top villains of all time. Due to this, Hans is often seen as John McClane's one true nemesis and the quintessential Die Hard villain. Indeed, due to his acclaimed performance, Alan Rickman was often typecast as villains following this film, a role he has, in later years, swerved away from, preferring to play more complex characters, like Severus Snape in Harry Potter. The role left a huge impact on Rickman's life. Hans Gruber's brother, Simon, who terrorized McClane in Die Hard with a Vengeance. He was portrayed by Jeremy Irons. Hans Gruber is often voted Alan Rickman's most popular role, along with the Sherriff of Nottingham in Robin Hood-Prince of Thieves, Severus Snape in Harry Potter, and Judge Turpin in Sweeney Todd. Quotes *"Now I have a machine gun. Ho, ho, ho." *"I wanted this to be professional. Efficient, adult, cooperative, not a lot to ask. Alas, your Mr. Takagi did not see it that way, so he won't be joining us for the rest of his life." *"We can go any way you want it. You can walk out of here or be carried out. But have no illusions. We are in charge. So, decide now, each of you. And please remember: we have left nothing to chance." *"You ask for miracles. Theo, I give you the F...B...I." *"I will count to three. There will not be a four." *"Nice Suit. John Philips, London. I have two myself. Rumor has it Arafat buys his there too." *"Karl ... Schieß dem Fenster. Shoot the glass!" *"But, you have me at a loss. You know my name but who are you? Just another American who saw too many movies as a child? Another orphan of a bankrupt culture who thinks he's John Wayne? Rambo? Marshal Dillon?" *"Who said we were terrorists?" *"It's Christmas, Theo. It's the time of miracles. So be of good cheer... and call me when you hit the last lock." *"When they touch down, we'll blow the roof. They'll spend a month sifting through the rubble and by the time they figure out what went wrong—we'll be sitting on a beach earning twenty percent." *"That's a very nice suit, Mr. Takagi. It would be a shame to ruin it..." *"I could talk about industrialization and men's fashion all day, but I'm afraid work must intrude." *"And when Alexander saw the breadth of his domain, he wept...for there were no more worlds to conquer. Benefits of a classical education." *"Do you really think you have a chance against us, Mr. Cowboy?" *"That's very kind of you. I assume you are our mysterious party crasher. You are most troublesome, for a security guard." *"Still the cowboy, Mr. McClane! Well, this time John Wayne does not walk off into the sunset with Grace Kelly." *"You hear that? Talk to me, where are my detonators? Where are they, or shall I shoot another one? Sooner or later, I might get to someone you *do* care about!" See Also Category:Characters Category:Antagonists Category:Die Hard characters Category:Deceased Characters Category:Killed by John McClane Category:Germans Category:Males Category:Terrorist leaders Category:Family members Category:Hans Gruber terrorist group member